The Bethlehem Township commissioners Monday night granted a special zoning designation that clears the way for a nursing care facility on the site of what is now Industrial Steel Enterprises.

Manor Care Inc. of Silver Spring, Md., is proposing a 120-bed nursing home together with a 56-bed assisted living center. Manor Care operates the Leader Nursing homes, which it purchased from former Gov. George M. Leader.

The former governor now operates a competing chain of nursing homes that includes the Country Meadows home on Green Pond Road.

Manor Care operates in 28 states. Among the 46 retirement centers it operates in Pennsylvania are the five local Leader Nursing centers -- one in Allentown, two in Bethlehem, one in Easton and one now opening in Wescosville.

For its Bethlehem Township project, Manor Care technically was granted an institutional overlay. While it must now go through land development, including review by the township's Planning Commission, last night's decision effectively grants Manor Care approval subject to minor plan revisions.

Manor Care officials said they plan to add 30 beds to the nursing home -- bringing the total to 150 -- if it becomes successful. The 6.7-acre site is on Freemansburg Avenue near the township's eastern border.

In other matters, the township commissioners also ended their long-running battle with Northampton Community College over a two-story dormitory to house 111 students. Since 1992, the township and neighbors have sued several times to halt the project, only to lose each time.

Monday night, the board granted conditional final approval for the projects. The dozen conditions are largely procedural.

Representatives for the college put the new price at roughly $2.1 million. Originally it was $1.8 million. The college's board of trustees recently announced that bonds would be issued to fund the project.

Finally, the board voted to drop its membership with the National Rifle Association in response to recent controversies. The most prominent involves fund-raising pamphlets that accused law enforcement officials of being "jack-booted government thugs."

The township paid $100 each year to the NRA to have two police officers certified as firearms instructors. The township will now have its trainers certified by either the state police or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.